Regata Director and America's Cup Race Management CEO Iain Murray looks on before the start of a news conference on May 14, 2013 in San Francisco.

Photo: Josh Edelson, AFP/Getty Images

Regata Director and America's Cup Race Management CEO Iain Murray...

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Oracle Team USA ran out 2 of it's AC-72 catamarans in San Francisco Bay Wednesday June 26th, 2013, as crews ramped up their training for the upcoming America's Cup finals in September.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Oracle Team USA ran out 2 of it's AC-72 catamarans in San Francisco...

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Iain Murray, director of the America's Cup, says he will appeal to the Coast Guard if protests of his safety measures succeed.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Iain Murray, director of the America's Cup, says he will appeal to...

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Support boats and a helicopter shadow the Oracle Team USA's AC-72 catamarans in San Francisco Bay Wednesday June 26th, 2013, as crews ramped up their training for the upcoming America's Cup finals in September.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Support boats and a helicopter shadow the Oracle Team USA's AC-72...

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Oracle Team USA ran out 2 of it's AC-72 catamarans in San Francisco Bay Wednesday June 26th, 2013, as crews ramped up their training for the upcoming America's Cup finals in September.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Oracle Team USA ran out 2 of it's AC-72 catamarans in San Francisco...

In the latest twist to the contentious America's Cup, regatta director Iain Murray threatened Wednesday to scuttle the competition unless his safety recommendations are upheld by the Cup's international jury.

The five-member jury is scheduled to meet Monday to hear a protest by Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa Challenge over Murray's recommendation to require larger, heavier rudder elevators.

Rudder elevators are the winglets on the base of the rudder blades that help control the pitch of the boat. The configuration of the elevators is the only unresolved part of 37 recommendations Murray made after the death of British sailor Andrew "Bart" Simpson when the Artemis Racing boat capsized May 9.

Such disputes are nothing out of the ordinary for the America's Cup. Legal wrangling has been a long-standing element of its history, which dates to 1851. As the event approaches its San Francisco debut, it has been beset by accidents, the death of a sailor, disputes over the rules and questions about the viability of racing on 72-foot catamarans in the first place.

If the jury agrees with New Zealand and Luna Rossa and allows their original, smaller elevators, Murray said, he'll go back to the Coast Guard, which issued a racing permit this week, and say he doesn't think the racing would be safe.

In that case, the Coast Guard would almost certainly withdraw its permit. "Without a permit to race on San Francisco Bay, there will be no regatta," Murray said.

A Coast Guard spokesman confirmed that a new safety plan would have to be formulated for the event to go on.

"We would have to talk to the America's Cup officials, but they would need a new plan," Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz said.

Murray, who is employed by all the teams, acting in a partnership, also insisted that he isn't going to resign. "I don't like to leave things unfinished," he said.

Racing to begin

In the meantime, the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series will begin Sunday at 12:15 p.m. with a race between the two protesting teams. Luna Rossa and New Zealand are sailing with elevators that meet the minimum specifications of Murray's recommendations.

But Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton thinks the wider, heavier elevators prescribed by Murray could give defending champion Oracle Team USA a competitive advantage. Murray called that claim "farcical."

The Kiwis say they built their boat under a set of rules that has now been changed. Luna Rossa is in the same predicament, having bought its boat design from New Zealand.

During a media tour of the Italian team base Tuesday, Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena said the rudder elevator change was "nothing related to safety. What really upsets me is that there is one boat sailing (Oracle) since they launched on April 24 who has been sailing out of the class rule."

"Why design a boat that doesn't comply with the class rule? And then one week before the Louis Vuitton Cup, you (Murray) ask the other teams to change the position of the rudders and the elevators."

Russell Coutts, CEO of Oracle Team USA, said that his team will race on whichever elevators the jury chooses, but he prefers the larger ones because he believes they are safer. "Anything that makes it safer is a good thing," Coutts said.

All the teams have added foils to their boats, even though they weren't part of the original designs. When the 72-foot catamarans reach a certain speed, they lift out of the water and ride on the two rudder elevators and the daggerboard of whichever of the two hulls is in the water. With greatly reduced drag, the boats can sail dramatically faster, up to 50 mph.

Dalton said larger elevators are not "necessary or safe at all." In Murray's recommended changes, the elevators would extend beyond the width of the boat, Dalton said. If a crew member fell over the side, he said, the elevator could cut him in half.

According to Dalton, the Murray proposal on elevators would change a class rule and therefore should require the unanimous consent of the competitors.

'Universally accepted'

Murray said that when he issued his safety recommendations on May 22, there was no objection to the elevator change.

"The recommendations were universally accepted as what was good for the event going forward," Murray said. In fact, he said, Dalton "was probably the strongest supporter at that meeting."

He said Dalton shook his hand in front of the other team representatives and told him, "You will not get any pushback from Team New Zealand."

As Murray sees it, an Oracle capsize in October and the Artemis accident in May made it clear that heavier rudder elevators were needed to minimize the possibility of a pitchpole. That's what happens when the bows of the catamarans submerge and the stern lifts out of the water.

Murray said he issued the new safety recommendations in May because he didn't think the teams had responded vigorously to make the racing safer in the wake of Simpson's death. "Clearly, some of the teams didn't take that accident seriously enough," he said.

An investigation into the accident is being conducted by the San Francisco Police Department, which has yet to issue a report. Murray said he went ahead with his recommendations because he felt he knew as much as he needed to about the incident.

"The boat broke in the process of capsizing," he said.

Losing control

The larger elevators would aid in controlling the 7 1/2-ton boats, a point that Murray said was underscored recently when Luna Rossa twice lost control in practice runs using smaller elevators and went into the buffer zone that surrounds the course.

New Zealand's contention that the changes are being made too close to the start of racing is off base, Murray said. "All the teams agreed with the principles on May 22," he said.

Even if his recommendations are all upheld, Murray said, he can't guarantee that the regatta will be completely safe. "Is any sport safe?" he asked. "Certainly, we've made things safer." But he said the sailors "are aggressive on the race course. There are a lot of things that happen in a race that I don't think are safe."